WESTMINSTER has been accused of remaining "silent" in response to calls from Holyrood for it to have the power to run all Scottish elections.

Local Government Minister Derek Mackay said the Scottish Government had asked UK ministers to devolve these responsibilities.

But he said they had had no response from the UK Government, and he vowed to continue to press them on the issue.

Mr Mackay said transferring the power to run local council and Scottish Parliament elections to Holyrood was one of the "key" recommendations of the Gould report into the 2007 election fiasco, where voter confusion led to tens of thousands of spoiled ballots.

The new minister told Holyrood: "It is absurd that this Parliament is not responsible for the election of its members, and that we are unable to give 16 and 17 year olds their democratic right to vote, even when that is the will of this Parliament.

"We have made approaches and the UK Government remains silent on this issue, and we will make further approaches."

With the next council elections due to take place in May, Mr Mackay said the electronic counting system to be used had been subjected to "rigorous testing" which "should protect against the failures of the past".

With local authority elections using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, where people rank candidates in order of preference, he said electronic counting was "almost inevitable" as counting votes manually would take "many days".

However he said that research into the design of ballot papers to be used had also highlighted a "continuing issue" that people "did not have sufficient knowledge of the Single Transferable Vote system".

To try to address this he told MSPs that the Electoral Commission would run a public awareness campaign, with part of this "specifically aimed at ensuring electors have the necessary information to be able to cast their votes under STV".

After queues meant people were unable to vote in some parts of England in the 2010 UK General Election, Mr Mackay announced changes would be made so that those who turn up at the polling station in time would still be able to cast their ballot, even if the polling station had closed.

While he accepted it was "unlikely" voters would be lining up for May's council elections, he said: "A person who has presented to a polling station in time, and is held in a queue waiting to cast their vote may still put the ballot paper in the box after 10pm.

"The Scottish Government is the first administration to include such a provision in election rules."

He also revealed legislation was being brought in which would increase the spending limits in local government elections by 17.5%, explaining these had not been reviewed since 2005 and the rise was in line with the rate of inflation.

These have been held on the same day as Holyrood elections, but are now being staged on their own.

Ms Boyack said: "In no elections do we achieve anything like the full number of people who are eligible to vote to actually vote."

She added that having "decoupled" the council elections from the Holyrood poll, there was now a "serious issue about making sure people do actually turn out on the day".

The Labour MSP went on: "Recent by-elections have seen incredibly small turnouts and this election will be the first stand alone local government election in decades."

Tory MSP Margaret Mitchell said local democracy was "badly undermined" in what she called the 2007 election fiasco.

She said the next election should not be open to younger voters, siding with Labour in the debate.

Ms Mitchell said: "There will be no shortage of contentious issues which local government candidates and other politicians will have the opportunity to put to the electorate in an effort to gain their vote and increase turnout.

"In these circumstances, with all the funding issues affecting the provision of services to the public, voting for 16 and 17-year-olds is not a priority."

She said that while 16-year-olds have the right to marry, few would take that opportunity.

But SNP backbencher Kevin Stewart, an Aberdeen city councillor, urged Parliament to extend the vote.

He argued: "What I've found over the years is that many young people in 5th and 6th year at school are immensely interested in politics. They leave school and suddenly they're disinterested because we have not grabbed their interest at that particular point in time.

"Surely giving them the vote at 16 and 17 would keep them interested in politics."

SNP backbencher James Dornan turned his attention to the battle for Scotland's largest local authority, Glasgow City Council.

The SNP has already launched its campaign to win control of the council, which is traditionally a power base for the Labour Party.

In heated exchanges, during which Mr Dornan was accused of "making a party political broadcast" by Labour MSP Neil Findlay, Mr Dornan said: "We've talked about the process of the local elections and the way to try and make things easier for people to vote in May. I think what we have to do now is enthuse them to come out and vote.

"The main reason why people should come out and vote in Glasgow it that it gives them a real chance to throw off the dead hand of Labour from control of our beautiful city.

"For far too long citizens have had to live under the arrogance, complacency and incompetence of the administration. They would rather fight with this Government for political reason than work with it to make life better for the people they are meant to represent."